A Trump cheat sheet for Putin (Hillary Clinton edition)

Dolls depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump are displayed for sale at a Moscow flea market. The two leaders meet July 16, 2018, in Helsinki.

Dolls depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump are displayed for sale at a Moscow flea market. The two leaders meet July 16, 2018, in Helsinki. (Maxim Zmeyev/Getty-AFP)

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President Donald Trump has never seemed too eager to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin about the touchy subject of how Russia tampered with the 2016 U.S. election. Thursday, on a swing through Europe, Trump told reporters he would “of course” raise the issue of Kremlin interference in the election when he meets Putin for a summit Monday in Helsinki.

But there wouldn’t be any ultimatums, as there had been at the NATO summit. If Putin denies interference? Trump gave reporters a verbal shrug: “Look, he may. What am I going to do? He may deny it. All I can do is say, ‘Did you?’ And, ‘Don’t do it again.’ But he may deny it.”

You can bet Putin will deny it. But Trump shouldn’t let him off the hook easily. On Friday, the president got more reason to confront Putin: U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced charges against 12 Russian intelligence officers accused of engaging in a wide-ranging hackathon, with targets that included the Democratic National Committee, the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, state boards of elections and other government agencies.

In Helsinki, Trump needs to find his blustery Twitter voice. Never thought we’d need to deliver that advice to the acid-tongued president. The goal is not to win a debate or persuade Russia’s prince of darkness to see the error of his ways but to deliver a message of American intolerance with such tampering. The world needs to hear from Trump as leader of the free world, and so do the American people.

Here are points we’re looking for Trump to make to Putin, each suitable for tweeting:

Don’t bother to keep denying responsibility for the hacking of American political officials. We know what happened, and because the guilty parties are connected to the GRU, Russian military intelligence, that means you, Vlad, knew what was happening. America’s midterm elections are coming up, and no one, either on the Republican or Democratic side, wants your meddling. Butt out.

I just finished a NATO meeting in Brussels. In case you were engrossed in the World Cup and missed the details, here are the takeaways. I’m frustrated with my allies for not spending enough on defense, because I want the strongest possible security cordon around Europe to defend against terrorists and, if need be, your aggression. I am 100 percent invested in the future of NATO, one of America’s great partnerships. I’m always willing to cooperate and negotiate with Russia, if it makes sense, but NATO is family. Don’t mistake a little money squabble for weakness.

I want to make America great again, and you want to make Russia great again — by re-establishing the Soviet empire. There’s a constructive role for a strong Russia to play in the world, but being the bully doesn’t cut it. Your sneaky takeover of Crimea, messing around in Ukraine and gamesmanship in Syria add up to a pattern of aggression I don’t like. Neither do my European partners. Don’t try anything like that with a NATO country.

I run the biggest economy in the world. If I turn that might against you with sanctions, you won’t like it. Ask China. So stay out of our business.